IRVINE : School Budget Shows $2.2 Million in Cuts; Layoffs Still Unsure

The school board has adopted a $97.7-million tentative budget that reflects $2.2 million in cuts and a still-undetermined number of layoffs.

With a short-term loan from the Irvine Ranch Water District, the Irvine Unified School District will be able to meet a $54.5-million bond debt due June 13, Deputy Supt. Paul Reed said this week.

Reed warned school board members, however, that until the state Legislature adopts a budget for the new fiscal year, the school district’s plan remains an estimate at best.

“All these numbers will change,” Reed said.

With a number of teachers and other district employees lured by early retirement incentives, district officials hope to avoid most of the potential layoffs announced earlier this year. The district previously sent notices of potential layoffs to 120 teachers, 95 classified employees and 30 administrators.

Three elementary school principals and about 25 teachers have chosen early retirement.

“We’re losing a lot of very good people,” Interim Supt. Dean Waldfogel said, “many of whom look far too young to retire.”

Though concerns that the district might be forced to declare bankruptcy have faded, Reed said, Irvine Unified is not “out of the woods.”

“We’re at the edge of the trees,” Reed said, predicting that county investment pool funds will be returned sometime from June 16 to 19. “We’re practically there.”

But Reed said the consequences of Orange County’s December bankruptcy filing will be felt in the school district for the next decade. The cost of financing the district’s investment pool losses will total $1.2 million a year for the next 10 years, Reed projected.